


Of Rhetoric and Love

by Zoa



Series: The Reylo Tales: My Collection of Reylo One-Shots [12]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Blood and Injury, Drunk Rey (Star Wars), F/M, Friends to Lovers, Gun Violence, Journalist Rey, Senator Ben Solo, Soft Ben Solo, again mild but i want to be explicit on stuff, assassination attempt, longshot au, mild violence, very mild but it's there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:48:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24507931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoa/pseuds/Zoa
Summary: Tumblr prompt: 'Long Shot au when Rey reconnectes with her former babysistter and crush Ben Solo who is presidental candidate'I haven't seen the movie, but the idea seemed like so much fun! I looked up the plot and used some elements from the film. Hope ya like!
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: The Reylo Tales: My Collection of Reylo One-Shots [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1691227
Comments: 25
Kudos: 181





	Of Rhetoric and Love

What was she doing? This night was a mistake and she should have known better than to agree to Poe’s stupid attempt to make her feel better. Why had she thought, after being fired by her new asshole boss for having journalistic integrity, that a night out in an expensive dress that wasn’t hers and a face covered in make-up, would be a good idea? 

She wasn’t having that much fun. She was too busy avoiding spilling anything on the dress Poe had rented for her and not tripping in the heels Rose had insisted she wear. To top off the terrifically awkward evening, her date had disappeared somewhere, schmoozing with someone Rey didn’t care about and leaving her to entertain herself.

This entertainment consisted of her judging all the rich pricks running around having dick measuring contests with each other as they argued over who had the biggest private airplane. At least, that’s what she imagined they were doing. In all honesty she hadn’t gotten close enough to any of them to hear their conversations. Hopefully they were trying to outdo each other’s donation for the children’s hospital charity fundraiser that night, but her cynical side - which was running rampant - doubted that. That the event was held in probably the grandest ballroom Rey had ever seen didn’t help. Royal palace kind of shit with chandeliers and every and anything else one could imagine. Not exactly the most relatable place for poor kids. She would know. 

Rey grabbed her fourth glass of champagne from a passing waiter and downed it in two swallows. At least the drinks were good. Too good. If Rey wasn’t careful, she’d end up in a giggle fit on the floor in the ladies restroom.

Then again, why not? She would be enjoying herself. 

With that in mind, Rey went after the waiter and reached for her fifth glass of the sweet wine she’d been imbibing. There was only one glass left on the tray, however, and as her fingers inched toward it, almost brushing the stem, the flute of bubbly was rudely snatched away by a much larger hand. 

“Hey!” Rey scowled and turned away from the retreating figure of the waiter to glare at the person who’d absconded with the only thing making her happy. When Rey saw who it was, her jaw very comically dropped.

It couldn’t be. 

“Ben?” she squeaked. 

Dark eyebrows shot up above deep brown eyes - even though they were brown, Rey was always reminded of the night sky when she looked at them because they held _so much_. Like something ancient resided in them, hibernating, waiting to be drawn out. 

“Do I know you?” 

Of course he wouldn’t remember her. When was the last time they’d seen each other? Fourteen years? She’d been thirteen, he’d been seventeen and doing a favor for Maz, watching Rey for a weekend while her adopted mother took a business trip. 

Rey had insisted she hadn’t needed a babysitter, but Maz, being a responsible adult, had engaged the son of her friend, Leia Organa-Solo, to keep an eye on Rey. 

Unbeknownst to Maz - or maybe she did know, Rey wasn’t sure - Rey’d had a blazing crush on Ben Solo ever since Maz had taken her in a year before. 

So when she found out it was Ben who’d be watching her, Rey was both mortified and excited. 

But that, of course, was so long ago and she looked completely different now. So did he, really. 

He was broader than she remembered; taller, too. He’d gone from a gawky, dorky, adorable seventeen-year-old to a built epitome of masculinity and raw manliness. 

The Marines had been good to him.

Life had been good to him. 

The expensive blue suit he wore was fitted perfectly, enhancing his form, from his broad shoulders to his strong legs.

Or maybe that was the champagne speaking. 

Of course she’d seen pictures and read stories of him throughout the years, viewed his political career skyrocket after the Marines. Then Senator and now President Snoke had taken him under his wing and turned Ben into a ruthless political opponent. Rey couldn’t say she agreed with everything on his platform, but she couldn’t deny his success. Ben was a senator himself now and there were rumors he was going to launch a bid for the presidency. This was Snoke’s last term and many were vying for the opportunity to either turn over his decisions, or make them worse. Ben, being Snoke’s favorite, would certainly have the president’s support. 

And now here she was, halfway to being drunk at a fancy party, wobbling in her heels and a green dress with a deep V-cut almost down to _there_ in front of the boy who she’d crushed on as an awkward teen, and he didn’t remember her. 

If awkwardness was supposed to go away over time, it had decided to do the opposite with Rey. 

“Um, sorry. There’s no reason for you to remember me. I’m Rey? Rey Kanata? Maz’s daughter?” She hoped the name would jog his memory. To her relief, recognition lit his face. 

“Rey! My god, how long has it been? How are you? You look…” he eyes trailed over her figure and he swallowed and Rey swore the tips of his ears - what she could see through his longish hair - turned pink, “different. Good. I mean, I didn’t recognize you.”

To her own greater embarrassment, Rey blushed. “Um, thanks. It’s okay. It’s been a long time. A lot has happened.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He nodded. There was a second of a bit of an awkward silence before he spoke again. “So, what have you been up to? What are you doing now?” 

“I, um, I went to school. Journalism.” Rey coughed and tried to swallow but her throat was completely dry. Damn champagne. “And, um, I have a job at the _Chandrila Times_. _Had_ a job," she corrected with bit more venom than warranted. A frown appeared between Ben’s eyes. 

“Had?”

“Well, I got fired yesterday. No biggie. Just the first good job I’ve managed to get in awhile so… I’m a little bitter.” Another waiter passed by and Rey did not hesitate to take a flute of champagne. She paced her sips, though. She didn’t want Ben to think she was a drunk or something.

“Why did you get fired?” he asked. 

Rey hesitated as the reason pertained to Ben, in a roundabout way. “Let’s just say my new boss and I didn’t agree on the direction he wanted to take the paper.” 

That didn’t satisfy him. “What did he want to do?”

“Well, okay, um.” She took another, deeper sip of her champagne. Her head was a little fuzzy at this point as her previously consumed libations took their toll, but the conversation was going in an awkward direction. “I wrote for the political section and I… no offense, but I do _not_ ,” she swiped a hand through the air to emphasize her point, “like President Snoke. Not even a tiny iota.”

“No offense taken,” Ben replied with a hint of amusement. “Is that what you and your boss disagreed on?”

“Big time.” Rey nodded. “Canady is totally up Snoke’s ass, or he’d like to be, anyway. I wasn’t allowed to write any criticism but I refused to be censored like that so he fired me.” She shrugged and downed the rest of her champagne, too far gone to be self-conscious anymore. “That’s my sad story. I’m jobless and opinionated. And a little drunk. What’s in this stuff, anyway?” She lifted her empty flute in a jerky move and looked around for another waiter. 

Her old friend - could he be called that if they had never actually hung out socially? - ducked out of the way and then Rey felt a gentle pressure on the small of her back and found herself being guided toward a nearby cocktail table. 

“I think you need to sit down.” Ben told her, his voice again tinted with humor. “Before you fall down.”

“That was actually my plan.” Rey dropped into the chair he directed her toward and groaned as the full effect of standing in heels for hours hit her along with a dizzy spell. “Wow, my feet hurt.” She was still somewhat present enough to hide her feet beneath the table before she threw her shoes off. Ben took the seat beside her with a rumble Rey guessed was his version of a laugh. 

“I never thought I’d see Rey Kanata drunk and barefoot in the middle of a charity gala.”

“I never thought I’d see your dorky face on TV or a fascist asshole as president but there you go. Life’s full of surprises.” She hiccuped and clapped a hand over her mouth as the full weight of what she’d said crashed into her. “Holy shit, I’m so sorry!”

Ben had his face propped on one hand and his eyes were wide but there was a hint of a grin from behind his fist. “Wow. Brutal, Kanata.”

She groaned and dropped her head to the table, resting it on her folded forearms. “I’m a mess. Just leave me to self destruct.”

“I don’t think that would be very responsible of me.” 

“You’re not my baby sitter anymore, Solo. Senator. Whatever.”

“Kinda feels like I am. I don’t want it getting back to Maz I left her daughter drunk and alone at a party. She would call my mom and it would be a whole thing.” He sighed in a melodramatic way. 

Rey lifted her head enough to eye him with a glare. He thought he was so funny. 

“How were you elected again?”

Ben cracked a grin. “Popular vote.”

“Ugh.” 

“Seriously, Rey. You need some water and to get home. Did you come with anyone?”

“Yeah.” She forced herself to sit up but the movement led to another dizzy spell which in turn roiled her stomach. Oh no. She was _not_ going to get sick in front of Ben fucking Solo. Rey closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes she saw that Ben was looking at her with concern. “Um, he’s somewhere. I'm fuhn, Ben.” She winced at the slurred ‘fine’ and tried again. “I’m f-fi- I’m alright.”

But he pulled a phone out from inside his jacket and tapped something out. “I’m getting you a car and you’re going home.”

Rey groaned, unfortunately sober enough to be embarrassed. “I hope I don’t rememm… rember this.” Damn it speaking was hard five champagnes in. 

He murmured something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like ‘I hope you do’ before he rose and helped her get to her feet. 

A few minutes later Rey was settled in a fancy town car and Ben had just finished giving her address to the driver. 

“Mitaka will get you home safe.” He said, leaning through the open window into the backseat where Rey was slumped against the door. “Who did you come with? I’ll let them know what happened.”

“Doe Pameron.” Rey mumbled, her eyes drooping. Ben snorted at the mangling of Poe’s name and Rey made another attempt. “Cam Rameron. Boe Nameron.”

“Okay, okay. Don’t hurt yourself. I think I know who you mean. Poe Dameron, right?”

Rey nodded slowly and relaxed. “Thank you,” she managed to say without fumbling.

“What are former baby sitters for?” Ben cracked but then, and Rey wasn’t sure if she imagined it or not, his hand seemed to move forward, as if he was going to brush the hair out of her face, but he jerked it back at the last minute. “Go get some sleep.”

“Mm, g’night Ben.”

His voice was different when he responded, like he was suddenly breathless. Or maybe she imagined that, too. 

“Goodnight, Rey.”

****

The next morning was literal hell. Rey didn’t understand how five glasses of wine had managed to give her the worst headache in her life. 

She barely remembered how she got into her apartment much less her bed and when she woke she found she hadn’t bothered to change out of her borrowed dress. 

After she managed to get up and haul herself into a shower and a change of clothes, she felt ten times better if still woozy. A couple of aspirin took care of the headache but she could only manage to eat a couple of crackers for breakfast, fearing if she ate anymore she would throw up. Rey crawled back into bed after that, hoping she could sleep until dinner time, but her phone went off just as her eyes were closing. 

“Oh, what now.” She groaned and groped around for the noisy device. She almost knocked over her table-lamp in her search but eventually found the phone. An unknown number was calling her for some reason. Probably a telemarketer. Cranky and deciding such an intrusive company was the perfect victim for her hungover ire, Rey swiped to answer. “What the fuck is wrong with you people calling so early in the morning? Do you not sleep?”

“First of all, it’s almost one in the afternoon, and second, I see you’re feeling better.”

Rey shot up to a sitting position but instantly regretted the decision; the aspirin wasn’t quite working yet. “Um, hi Ben,” she squeezed her eyes shut.“Erm, I mean, Senator Solo.”

“You can call me Ben, Rey.”

“Oh, um, thanks. And thank you for taking me home. I mean, sending someone to take me home. You didn’t have to do that.”

“Yeah. Maybe.” He cleared his throat. There was a palpable awkward silence that Rey didn’t quite understand. 

“How’d you get my number?” she blurted, curiosity overcoming her unease.

“Poe gave it to me. He and I met in college, actually. It was good to catch up with him, so I have to thank you for that.”

“That’s what I’m here for. To get stupid drunk at a fancy party and bring old friends together.” Rey smiled a little when he laughed. 

“I’m right in assuming you’re feeling better?” he asked. 

Rey nodded even though he couldn’t see her. “Yeah, yeah. I am.”

“Good.”

“Is that why you called? To check on me?” The prospect filled her stomach with butterflies that had nothing to do with her hangover. 

“Yes. But I also have a proposition for you.”

“A proposition?” Rey repeated, wrinkling her nose. “What do you mean?”

There was an interruption as a nasally male voice told Ben something. Rey couldn’t make it out because Ben must have covered his phone with his hand, but she could tell Ben’s response was curt. 

“Sorry.” He said upon returning. “That was my chief of staff. He’s making it clear he doesn’t want me to do this and I told him to fuck off.”

Rey huffed out a laugh. He was not exactly what she expected in a senator. “Do what?”

“I want to hire you.”

“What?” The word came out in a strangled squeak. 

“I want you to be my new speech writer. I read through your articles last night and you’re good. Really good.”

“Your… Ben, I don’t even agree with you politically.”

“Yeah, I know. But I want that. It would be refreshing to have another opinion around here. Especially going into the campaign.”

Rey’s eyebrows shot up. “So you’re really running for president?”

“Ah. Forgot I haven’t announced that officially yet. Yeah. I’m running. That will be your first assignment, if you agree to work with me. You’ll be well compensated.”

That might have made things more interesting. “Like how well?”

“Check your email. I sent you the contract.”

Rey walked over to her laptop, which sat on the somewhat messy desk in her room, and opened her email. When she perused Ben’s contract, she whistled. 

“Wow.”

“I don’t skimp.”

“No, you really don’t.” Rey chewed at her lower lip. Personal feelings aside, the opportunity could be a boon for her career. “So I would be writing your speeches?”

“Yep. I’ll give you notes about content and of course you’ll have to attend events along with the rest of my staff should I need edits last minute.”

Rey blew out a slow breath. Maybe she was still a little drunk, but her mind was made up quickly. 

“Okay, Mr. Senator. You’ve got yourself a new speech writer.”

****

Ben’s campaign announcement went great. It was just a generic, hey, I’m going to run for president speech but Rey was proud of it and the experience made her think she and Ben would work well together.

But to do her best work she needed to know him better. Know him as Ben Solo the man and senator, not Ben Solo the boy she had a crush on. In order to do that, they needed to talk. In person. Alone. Rey told herself when she requested the meeting it was just that: a meeting to learn about him for her writing. Not a shifty way of snooping into his life. 

Maybe it was a little bit of that.

“Thanks for doing this.” Rey said as she settled herself onto the surprisingly comfortable couch in Ben’s senate office. She pulled a notepad and pen out, preferring to take notes the old-fashioned way. 

“Of course. I’m sorry I can only give you a few minutes today.” He replied. He sat on the other end of the couch, a discrete distance away. “It’s been a hectic week.” 

Rey smiled reassuringly. “That’s alright. It’s a start.” 

“So, Miss Kanata, what do you want to know?” He opened his hands and grinned. “I’m an open book.”

She had to collect herself so for a moment she only scribbled the date and time at the top of the notepad. “Um, well, what got you interested in politics? Why?”

“I guess I sort of fell into it. You know my mom. Going into it myself seemed the natural choice. And…” a thoughtful expression passed over his face, “I wanted to make a difference.” 

Rey paused her note-taking. She sensed doubt, as if he didn’t believe he had or would. “You will. You have.”

“Have I?” he worked his jaw. “I don’t know.”

“Y’know,” Rey said slowly, “I have sort of followed your career. Not in a creepy way.” She rushed to add after his brows went up. “But we used to know each other and it is - was - a part of my job.” She took a breath. “Anyway. From what I’ve seen, you have made a difference. The education bill you sponsored? That made an incredible impact.”

He blinked at her, as if surprised, and grinned. “Thanks.”

“N-no problem.” Rey flushed and looked down at barely filled note page. Her traitorous mouth blurted out a question she’d had since Ben hired her. “Why is there no Mrs. Senator?” 

“Is that relevant?” There was a casual if somewhat amused nature to the question.

Though flustered, Rey shrugged as nonchalantly as possible. “It’s part of what makes you tick.”

_And I’m officially a creep._

“Uh huh.” He eyed her like he didn’t believe her but answered anyway. “I simply didn’t have the time. Don’t have the time.” He corrected himself. “It’s not like I can just take a day and go on a date. Frankly, I’m not sure it’s in the cards for me. If it were, I think it’d have happened already.”

“Maybe you just haven’t met the right person yet?” Rey supplied lightly. 

“Maybe.” He caught Rey’s gaze and held it thoughtfully. “Maybe.”

Rey looked away to hide how pink her cheeks had gone. “Well, um, I’ll let you get back to work.” She stood and he joined her. 

“Did you get what you needed?” he asked, sliding his hands into his trouser pockets. 

“For now. Don’t worry, I’ll be non-stop with the questions whenever I get the chance. You’ll get tired of me before long.”

He huffed a quiet laugh. “I doubt that.” 

“You had a different opinion when we were kids,” Rey joked.

“We’re not kids anymore.”

The way he said it was light, like the simple fact that it was. The way he looked at her after the words sunk in was very different. 

“No,” Rey agreed softly. “We’re not.” 

****

After that meeting, Rey was even more optimistic about working with Ben.

Until his first rally at which he was going to outline his platform. 

“You cannot support Snoke’s security bill.” Rey told him flatly. They were sitting in his office late the night before the rally, a pile of notes surrounding them. He’d called her in for a last minute addition but when she found out it had to do with Snoke’s rights-crushing bill, she couldn’t be silent. 

“It’s not that bad.” Ben ran a hand through his hair for what looked like the millionth time considering how mussed it was. “I mean… it’s got good intentions.”

Rey narrowed her eyes and looked him up and down. He’d been there for awhile before she arrived. His suit jacket was off and draped across his chair along with his tie. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows - revealing long, muscled arms - and the top three buttons of his collared shirt were undone. He’d been struggling with this. 

“You don’t actually believe that, do you.”

She didn’t put it as a question because she already knew the answer. Ben put his hands on his hips and sighed. 

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It does matter, Ben.” Rey insisted, planting her palms on the desk. “It matters a lot. What _you_ think and believe will inform your every decision as president. Is this bill really what you stand for?”

Was he really so far gone?

Ben stared at her, eyes wide as if he was scared, and for a good thirty seconds there was no sound in the room except the ticking clock on the wall.

“No.”

The answer came as more of a relief than Rey had expected. She held up the original version of the speech, the one she’d helped him write in the first place. “Then stick with this. Stick with who you are, not who Snoke wants you to be. _You_ are running for president. Not him.” 

He nodded slowly and sat down in his plush leather desk chair. Rey saw how his shoulders - hell, his entire body - seemed to deflate and relax. She sank onto the chair opposite him and waited. 

“I knew you’d be a good fit,” he murmured. “Bring new ideas and challenge me. But…”

“But what?”

“But I didn’t expect you to…” a smile lifted his mouth, “remind me.”

Rey considered him curiously. “Remind you of what?”

“Of who I am.”

****

That night was five weeks ago. Five weeks. A lot happened in those weeks. Snoke was so angry about Ben abandoning the security bill he withdrew his support of Ben’s campaign. But in doing so, Ben had garnered aid from Snoke’s opponents, who were influential in their own right. Many were friends of his mother’s, those who had fought and bled for the freedoms Snoke wanted to take away. 

Ben didn’t need Snoke and Rey was proud and relieved he’d come to realize that. 

Even so, evil people still existed. 

A reality which came crashing like a freight train into Rey’s life when, while leaving a campaign speech in a swing state, Ben was shot at by an unknown assailant. 

Rey would never forget the awful, sickening heat of his blood hitting her face. Nor how she took the second bullet meant for him to her arm. 

Now they were safe on Ben’s private plane, the hangar surrounded by police and secret service. She and Ben had been taken to a hospital first, of course, but his security team didn’t like the location so they were moved to the plane after ensuring their injuries weren’t life-threatening. They’d changed out of their bloody clothes and into clean ones. Ben into a t-shirt and Rey into yoga pants and a tank.

They sat in his office, on a small couch. For a long while neither one spoke. Ben was hiding his head in his hands and Rey couldn’t stop shaking. She knew they were both in shock but she couldn’t stand the silence. 

“You almost died. We almost died.” Rey burst out. Her eyes latched onto the bandage on his head, where the bullet had grazed him; the rest of the world was blurred and fuzzy in comparison to how crystalline that white wrapping was. He lifted his head to face her. The air changed, thickened into a tension that was nearly unbearable. She wanted to be closer to him but was scared to move. 

“Yeah, almost.” Ben agreed. His throat bobbed as he swallowed. His eyes ran over her, unfocused, as if he couldn’t decide where he wanted them to land until they finally rested on her arm, where the other bullet had marked her. 

“I thought I was going to lose you,” Rey whispered and tried to stave off a wave of tears, but despite her efforts they rolled down her cheeks in hot streaks. 

“But you didn’t.” Ben shifted across the couch until he was next to her, until there was no space between them, saving Rey from doing it herself. She could feel his heat; it nearly stifled her but she wanted more. She reached out with a shaking hand and rested it over his heart; it raced beneath her palm, strong and steady and alive. Ben instantly covered her hand with his own. “I’m right here.”

She nodded and lifted her gaze from their joined hands to his face. Ben was already looking at her, his eyes blazing. He took her breath away. 

“Be-” she never got to finish, interrupted by Ben capturing her mouth with his in a hard, desperate kiss. His free hand came around and cupped the back of her head, his fingers tangling in her already messy hair. When he broke away Rey was in a daze, unable to formulate a single thought except: Had that really happened? 

He must have read her silence as a rejection because his face fell, he dropped his hands, and he launched into a stumbling apology. “I’m sorry. I… I shouldn’t have done that. Today was a lot and I… I don’t know. The last thing I wanted was to… to-”

“Ben. Shut up.” Rey came back to herself and hauled him back into another hard kiss, ignoring the way her arm protested as she pulled at his shirt. 

Judging by the muffled noise of surprise Ben made, he hadn’t expected her reciprocation, but he recovered quickly and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her tight against him. Rey slid her arms around his neck and the kiss changed from hard and needy to a slower burn that lit Rey’s entire being from the inside out. She released a soft sigh and Ben lowered her gingerly to the couch, not breaking their kiss until her back touched the seat cushion. Then he moved his lips over her jaw and throat in unhurried, savoring caresses that drew out another sigh from Rey. 

She shifted in a way that allowed him to rest between her legs and one of his hands came to slide deliciously over her thigh, grasping it in an almost possessive way when she tightened her legs around his waist. Rey could barely breathe for how he intoxicating his every touch, every move was. More so than the champagne she’d had at the gala not so long ago. 

Maybe it would have lasted longer had a certain chief of staff not decided to barge into the room. 

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” 

Much to Rey’s exasperation, Ben lifted his head away to turn it over his shoulder. She wasn’t the least bit embarrassed at being found in what some might consider a compromising situation; she and Ben had almost died. She wasn’t going to be ashamed that she wanted him. 

“Get the fuck out, Hux.”

“Just wanted to get your press release, Don Juan.” 

Ben rolled his eyes and Rey did not mean to giggle but a tiny bit of a laugh might have escaped and he grinned down at her. 

“Use your best judgement, Hux. I trust you. Now get out.”

Ben didn’t wait for the door to close before resuming his attentions. Rey closed her eyes and allowed herself to get lost in him, in what he was doing, in how he was making her feel. 

“Rey,” Ben’s voice filtered to her through all the sensations. “This isn’t just an almost-lost-my-life thing. My feelings changed awhile ago.”

A smile appeared on her face before she opened her eyes. “Yeah?”

His returning smile was like sunshine. “Yeah. I want you around. All the time. With me,” he kissed the tip of her nose, “all the time.”

“I’m already around you all the time,” she teased. Ben kissed her hard in retaliation and she groaned. 

“I want more,” he rasped against her lips. 

Unable to resist a desire she’d had for longer than she’d like to admit, Rey slid her fingers into his hair, scraping his scalp as she finally learned just how soft his dark waves were. He shuddered over her and his eyes drifted closed. Oh, he liked that. 

“I want that, too.” She murmured. “I want you.”

His responding, relieved kiss was so sweet Rey almost cried. For a moment, when he pulled back, she only looked at him, memorizing his face, the look in his eyes, wanting to remember this moment forever. She brushed her thumb over his plush lips and he pressed a light kiss to it. What a strange turn life had taken, to bring her to this point with him, half-way to being in love with him and hating any thought of living her life without him. It made her thirteen-year-old self’s infatuation absolutely ludicrous. 

“I have a confession to make,” she whispered and he raised a brow. 

“You’re not secretly married are you?”

Rey laughed and shook her head. “No, no. Nothing that dramatic. When we were kids… I had a _major_ crush on you.”

His eyes wrinkled as he grinned in an annoyingly smug way. “Really?” 

“I’m not gonna regret telling you that, am I?”

“Oh, you definitely are.” He pressed kisses along her temple and cheek. “You’re such a weirdo.”

“Oi,” she scowled and pushed at him. “Rude. It’s not that odd. You were cute. Not so much now.” She grumbled but he resisted her half-hearted attempt to make him get up. 

“Hey, I didn’t mean it in a bad way.” He soothed. “I only meant… I was kind of an odd choice to have a crush on. What with my dorky face and all.”

Rey flushed deeply. “I didn’t mean it like that…”

“I know. But I also know what I looked like as a teenager. I have to question your judgment, Kanata.”

“My judgment is perfectly sound. You were nice, adorable. Sweet and responsible. A cool kid. What wasn’t there to like?” Rey smiled up at him.

“What about now?” he asked, his voice somehow lowering an entire octave and thrumming through her body. “What do you think of me now?”

“You’re…” _A pensive, brooding tree of a man who I want to fuck me into this couch._ The thought was too much to say aloud and Rey could only stare at him, her face hot and heart thundering. “More.”

As if he’d heard her thoughts, as if he was suddenly connected to her mind, Ben’s eyes darkened and he kissed her wildly, letting his body drop into hers until she was on the edge of being crushed. But Rey loved it. Wanted it. Wanted him to envelope her completely. He made her feel safe and warm and complete. 

Rey never wanted him to let go.

****

In the course of the investigation into the assassination attempt on Ben’s life, it was found out that President Snoke was the one who ordered the hit.

He was subsequently impeached and arrested. 

A year later, Ben was sworn in as the next Republic president. 

Rey, as his bride, stood next to him, all smiles as he swore to uphold the Republic on a blustery, January day. And, after he was done - without any self-consciousness whatsoever - she kissed him in front of the entire country, to thunderous applause.


End file.
